Hi - We're going to get passionate about the environment; so, grab a beverage, take your shoes off, sit down and get comfy. If global warming is an interest of yours - add your comments, subscribe to the feed and/or become a follower. Don't forget to check out the ads to the right side of the column. There is some very interesting material to be had there. Read, comment, enjoy!!!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Dawa Steven Sherpa is one of WWF climate witness in Nepal. Photograph: WWF

Dawa Steven Sherpa, WWF (World Wildlife Federation) climate witness in Nepal, wrote this report in 2008. Since that time, things have only gotten worse.

Earlier in 2009, he and his companions were resting at the Everest base camp when they heard something buzzing. “What the heck is that?” Dawa asked. He and his companions looked for the source of the noise and found a big, black house fly. Just a few years ago, this sight would have been impossible because no insect would have been able to survive at 5,360 metres (2.27 miles).

"It's happened twice this year - the Himalayas are warming up and changing fast," says Dawa. Dawa only took up climbing seriously in 2006; but, in a few years has managed to climb his way to success. He has climbed Everest twice as well as two 8,000 meter (4.97 miles) peaks in Tibet.

"What I do is climb. It's a family business. And what we see is the Himalayan glaciers melting. It's not a seasonal thing any more. It's rapid. It's so apparent.

"Look at the walls and slopes of the Khumbu glacier [which flows 1.5 miles down from an icefall on the southern flanks of Everest]. You can see a clear line where the black rock becomes white. That's where it's been exposed to the sun. That means metres of thick ice have melted in just a few decades," he says.

Dawa comes from a royal lineage in the climbing world. He was born in Khumjung, a village 12 miles from Everest laying 3,500 meters (2.17 miles) above sea level. His father used to climb with British mountaineer Chris Bonnington; while, his grandfather, a yak trader, toured the world with Mt. Everest’s first summiteer, Sir Edmund Hillary.

The village of Khumjung. The monastery in this village has for years kept a yeti scalp locked in a glass box. Recently, scientists convinced the monks to part with a tiny sample and had it analyzed. It is not the scalp of a yeti. Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Dawa’s family, going back three generations, can testify to the major climate changes taking place today.

"Grandfather used to take yaks to a place called Gokio which was on the other side of the Ngozumba glacier, Nepal's longest. He could walk them over the ice but now it's just not there – it's a stony wasteland. The whole thing has melted," he says.

He continues his story by recounting some of the physical changes he has seen and the effects these changes are having on local communities.

"The permanent ice above our village now melts at about 5,500 meters (3.42 miles); but, it used to be 3,750 metres (2.33 miles). Our village is seeing prolonged droughts. They used to last a few months. Now we can go seven months without rain. We have less water now and erratic weather patterns.

"The young girls must now walk two hours to fetch water. Tourism, too, is being hit because villages like Khumjung, which used to have a lot of water for trekkers now don't have it. The villagers lose their business. All the Himalayan glaciers are melting, an average of 10-20m a year," he says.

Again, global warming is effecting the water supply of villages causing children, usually young girls, to have to walk farther and farther away to bring water for home use.

One of the most obvious and potentially dangerous changes is the growth of what has become known as “glacial lake outburst floods” (glofs).

Dawa explains: "A glof happens when a glacial lake is created by a melting glacier and it then bursts. Imja Lake is the most dramatic example of a potential one. It is growing 74m a year. When it bursts its banks, we will have a mountain tsunami. Billions of gallons of water will be released and it could wipe out about 70% of the trekking trail to Everest base camp. Not only will that destroy our homes and potentially kill people, but it will wipe out the jewel in the crown of Nepal's tourism industry."

Last year a very small lake at the edge of the Khumbu glacier burst and it washed away four bridges on a track up to Everest base camp.

"Apa says there was running water on the surface of the South col [a saddle at 7,920m between Everest and Lhotse Mountain] this year," says Dawa.

"Also the summit is getting smaller. You used to be able to get 50 people on the ridge to it. Now there's room for 18 people at most. The cornice is breaking off. A big crevasse is opening. It never used to exist. It seems nothing is safe anymore."

Dawa has a degree in business management from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland and he speaks five languages. He is a WWF ambassador on climate change and runs major expeditions into the Himalayas, climbing with his friend Apa Sherpa, who has climbed Everest 19 times - the world record.

About Me

I'm fortunate to have several passions in my life. I am absolutely an eco-nut. I am always trying to find new ways to reduce, reuse, recycle. We, as a species, have done more harm to this planet in the short time we have been here, than any other catastrophe or happening ever has. It's up to us to fix it.
I care about the environment whether it is as small as a single cell or as large as the universe.
I adore creativity and think we can all do more with much less. This earth has enough resources for us all to live comfortably if we all learn to share. Wasn't that a lesson we were supposed to learn in kindergarten?
I also love the bizarre, unusual, the weird and the strange. Be prepared for the odd "different" blog.

DISCLAIMERAll the pictures shown on this blog are the property of their respective owners, myself included. I don't hold any copyright over some of the pictures. These pictures have been collected from different public sources (unless indicated other) including different websites, considered to be in public domain. If any one has any objection to displaying of any picture, please bring it to my attention by sending an email & it will be be removed immediately, after verificaton of the claim.